Suzanne Vega is an American singer-songwriter from Santa Monica, California, working in alternative folk, art pop, chamber pop, contemporary folk, downtempo and folk. She is known for song-based writing that draws on folk and pop forms, and for a catalogue that spans several decades.

Early life and education

Vega is born Suzanne Nadine Vega in 1959 in Santa Monica. She spends most of her life in New York City. There she attends the High School of the Performing Arts, where she studies modern dance. She later studies English at Columbia University, writing songs while performing in college and community coffeehouses in and around New York.

Career

She is discovered in 1984 and releases her self-titled debut album the following year. Her second album, Solitude Standing (1987), brings her into the U.S. mainstream. The album includes two songs that reach the top 10 in various international chart listings: “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner”. “Luka” becomes a widely recognised single, while “Tom’s Diner” later becomes an American and European hit in a remix credited to DNA Featuring Suzanne Vega.

Her output remains substantial over time, and she builds and maintains a loyal audience after her period of greatest mainstream visibility. In 2003 she releases a retrospective collection. Her seventh album, Beauty & Crime, appears in 2007 and is shaped by New York, the city where she grows up and continues to live.

Personal life

Vega has a daughter, Ruby Froom, with her former husband Mitchell Froom. She remarries in 2006 to Paul Mills.

Recording label

Her label is Amanuensis Productions.